1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to information collection and distribution services and, more particularly, to data processing systems which may be used to facilitate performance of such services, particularly for collection and distribution of travel condition information.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A multitude of generalized travel conditions information is currently available ranging from television and radio broadcasts, to telephone customer information services. The shortcoming of broadcast information is that it is not personalized to the end user""s specific needs. Currently, individual travelers are is forced to expend time and energy sifting through and assimilating the potentially vast amount of information provided by broadcasts to determine if any disruptions have occurred along their route(s) of interest, and what effects may impact their own personal travel. Even when substantial effort has been expended, there is no assurance that needed information will have been collected even though it may be available from one or more sources that may be accessible. Some telephone customer information services attempt to provide a more tailored form of the broadcast travel conditions information by providing pre-determined routings for the customer to choose from. Although this type of service provides a smaller volume of traveler information to its customers, it still requires the end user to perform filtering and assimilating of the provided information.
One of the ever-present problems in metropolitan areas is access to real-time travel conditions information that is relevant to an end user""s intended travel routes. Real-time access to this information is often limited by conventional broadcast dissemination methods such as radio and television. Information is packaged for use by the masses and therefore contains general information, little (or none) of which may be relevant to any given end user using the multi-modal transportation system in a given region. Research has indicated that travel condition information that is not filtered against their personal multi-modal routes of travel and relevant to their times of travel, so they can make informed travel decisions is not particularly useful, particularly in urban areas. Further, end users do not want to be limited to the use of one or two particular dissemination/communication devices which may not be available or convenient when up-to-date travel conditions information is needed and/or relevant information is available.
In summary, what travelers want is 1) real-time travel conditions information, 2) specific to their multi-modal routes, 3) for any combination of travel modes, 4) whenever they need it, 5) wherever they need it by means of appropriate and available communication links, and most importantly, 6) when they would be affected by it. In this latter regard, some users want to receive such information only when regular travel would be affected by the travel conditions. Such qualities would allow travelers to reduce the effort currently associated with obtaining travel conditions information and to adjust their travel routes according to current conditions on their intended routes.
Previous implementations of similar concepts have focused on decomposing the transportation grid into preselected roadway segments that travelers can access via predetermined codes. While this approach may be an improvement over general broadcast methods, it does not address multi-modal travel (e.g. using different forms of transportation), may cause the end user a significant amount of involvement in obtaining the information and does not support the concept of limiting notification to only times when travel conditions affect the user. Further, previous implementations of similar concepts have not been fully generalized to communication systems by which the user may wish to receive information.
Nor do previous implementations provide independence from proprietary communication protocols or public geographic referencing methods which may expand the geographic area to which a report may be directed beyond the area of interest to a user and thus include unneeded, irrelevant or misleading information. For example, travel conditions associated with a particular street or highway or mode of transportation may only exist on a portion of the route to be travelled using a particular mode of transport which is not included in the traveller""s preferred route.
Accordingly, it is seen that prior approaches to limitation of travel information provided to a user have been insufficiently specific to the user""s needs and insufficiently flexible in regard to communication media which may be employed or the route and possible modes of travel which may be of interest to the user and do not support full flexibility of choice in travel routes, conveyance and other choices which may be made by a traveller in the process of expeditiously reaching a destination.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a system and method for matching travel condition information to a user""s needs and preferred communication media and utilization thereof, such as automatic notification or call-in/information on demand.
It is another object of the invention to provide a system and method for supplying travel condition information to a user for evaluation of travel options at points at which decisions can be made in the process of reaching an intended destination.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a system and method for filtering real-time travel condition information in regard to traveller identity, destination, route, mode of conveyance and/or intended travel time for limiting information presented to a user.
In order to accomplish these and other objects of the invention, a method is provided for selecting information from a database containing data having attributes and messages corresponding to the data and communicating the selected information in accordance with attributes of interest to a particular user, including the steps of registering attributes of interest in accordance with identification data for each user, constructing a filter from the attributes of interest to said user, filtering data input to the database to construct a list of user identifications corresponding to an attribute of the data, and retrieving and communicating to a user in the list a message corresponding to an attribute of interest to the user corresponding to data input to the database.